Cyclists continue to pedal trail proposal

Unless price derails progress, bicycle path seems back on track

By Tom Charlier (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Sunday, July 20, 2008

Long before most anyone else awakened to the possibilities, Jim Burress discovered just how much freewheeling fun could be had on an old railroad corridor.

More than 30 years ago, he began riding bikes with his children along dirt paths running parallel to the little-used tracks now belonging to CSX Transportation. The corridor, behind Burress' home on Princeton near Waring, gave them easy access to neighborhoods across a broad swath of East Memphis. Read More...

Law of the Garbage Truck

One day my friend and I hopped on our bikes on our way to work at a local bike shop. We were rolling down the right side of the road just to the left of parked cars when suddenly a driver in a black car jumped out right in front of us. We slammed on our brakes, skidded, and missed 'em by mere inches. The driver slowed for a moment and started yelling at us. My friend just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really friendly.
So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost took us out and he would have either maimed us or kill us." This is when my friend taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.' He explains that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage (frustration, anger, disappointment, etc.). As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so.. 'Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.'
Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Pedal Power

Memphis roads not friendly for bicyclists

As gas prices rise, more are using pedal power

By Don Wade (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Monday, July 28, 2008

For more than a year, Jane Fadgen had been commuting by bicycle from her Germantown home to her job as a registered nurse at St. Francis-Bartlett.

As she would leave early in the morning, well before sunrise, her husband Danny would ride halfway there with her and then return home. Her reasons for making the 10-mile one-way trip by bike were simple: the cost of gas, a love of cycling, and "we're environmentally tuned in."

A few weeks ago, at 4:45 a.m., Jane and Danny Fadgen were riding north on Germantown Parkway. They had just passed the Chick-fil-A on the right-hand side of the road and were crossing the bridge over the Wolf River. Read More...

On bike trip, Carl Edwards gets to be a regular guy

By Craig Wack (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal

Friday, July 25, 2008

It's become tradition for NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Kyle Petty to ride his motorcycle across the country every summer. For the past couple of seasons, Carl Edwards has gone a little more low-tech with his ride.

Edwards, who is considered among the most fitness-conscious drivers in NASCAR, rode his bicycle from his hometown of Columbia, Mo., to suburban St. Louis via the Katy Trail -- a trip of more than 100 miles -- in the days before winning last week's Nationwide Series event at Gateway International Speedway.

"I don't know if there's something wrong with my seat, but my butt hurts, my legs hurt and my abs hurt from laughing so much with all the guys that were with us," Edwards said. "It was wild, fun."

It's the second year Edwards has biked the trail, which was carved out of an abandoned rail line. He made the trip with his trainer, Dean Golich, Nationwide Series chaplain Lonnie Clouse and Edwards' motorhome driver, Tom Giacchi. Edwards said his little group had a few adventures along the way, including teaching a kid how to perform his signature backflip off a diving board at a public pool in Washington, Mo. Read more...

Memphis Critical Mass Ride - July 25, 2008 @ 5:30 PM

Meet at the southwest entrance to Overton Park/Memphis Zoo at Poplar Ave and Tucker. Come All Ye Who Pedal.

City of Memphis will move into the late 20th Century

Editorial: Sharing the road should get easier

Monday, July 14, 2008 Commercial Appeal

Well, hallelujah.

Sometime this fall, the City of Memphis will move into the late 20th Century in terms of accommodating bicyclists.

That's when the city's first bike lanes are scheduled for completion. City Engineer Wain Gaskins said one bike lane will be on Shady Grove between Humphreys and Yates and the other on Brierview between Shady Grove and Walnut Grove.

It's a good first step, and long overdue.

But the city shouldn't stop there. There are plenty of roads throughout Memphis that are wide enough to accommodate bike lanes without any additional road construction work.

The city should be making plans to add bike lanes on as many of those roads as possible, as soon as possible.

Unless the city is using road paint flaked with gold, the cost involved should be fairly small.

And bike lanes could actually help save lives.

That alone should put bike lanes higher on the priority list than many of the other uses city government manages to find for taxpayer dollars.

As an added bonus, bike lanes would improve the overall quality of life in Memphis, which could help stem the city's steady population loss.

This is, after all, a time when rising gas prices are forcing many people to consider alternative modes of transportation, including bicycles.

Despite the obvious benefits of bike lanes, city officials have seemed somewhat reluctant to embrace them.

Gaskins has said he's concerned because many storm water grates around the city have grooves that run parallel to sidewalks. That poses a hazard to cyclists because bike tires can get caught in those grooves, leading to accidents.

As a result, Gaskins has said he wants to wait until bike-friendly grates are installed before creating more bike lanes.

His logic on that point seems disconnected.

Because cyclists are already facing one type of road hazard, he's unwilling to take a completely independent step to make the roads safer for them?

That's like punishing cyclists for daring to venture into unsafe road conditions.

The grates do need to be replaced, but that could take a while. An interim solution would be to paint the grates yellow or red to alert cyclists to the potential hazard.

No, bike lanes aren't going to prevent all of the possible problems that could arise between motorists and cyclists.

Some motorists are still going to behave rudely and even dangerously because they just don't want to share the road with anyone moving more slowly than they are.

And some bicyclists are still going to disobey the rules of the road, endangering themselves and others around them.

Lanes just mark where cars and bikes should go. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll be used properly.

Plus, it would be impractical to put bike lanes on every single stretch of asphalt inside the city limits.

If the city's leaders really wanted to be progressive, they would commit to building a network of bike paths that would allow people to travel from Point A to Point B while largely avoiding the roads cars use.

But now we're talking real money.

In the short term, bike lanes are a good common sense solution. We need more of them.